2018–19 UEFA Europa League facts for kids

{{Infobox international football competition | tourney_name = UEFA Europa League | year = 2018–19 | image = Baku Olympic Stadium panorama 1.JPG | size = 275 | caption = The Olympic Stadium in Baku hosted the final | dates = Qualifying:
26 June – 30 August 2018
Competition proper:
20 September 2018 – 29 May 2019 | num_teams = Competition proper: 48+8
Total: 158+55 | associations = 55 | champion_other = Chelsea | count = 2 | second_other = Arsenal | matches = 205 | goals = 565 | attendance =

The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was a big football tournament in Europe. It was the 48th time this competition was held. It's like the second most important club football tournament in Europe, organized by UEFA. This season was also the 10th time it was called the UEFA Europa League, after it changed its name from the UEFA Cup.

The exciting final match was played in Baku, Azerbaijan, at the Olympic Stadium. Two teams from England, Chelsea and Arsenal, played against each other. This was special because it was the first time two teams from the same city played in a Europa League final! Chelsea won the tournament. Because they won, Chelsea got to play in the 2019 UEFA Super Cup against the team that won the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League. Chelsea also qualified for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage, but since they already qualified through their league, another team got their spot.

How the Tournament Changed

UEFA made some new rules for the Champions League and Europa League that started in 2018. One important change was that if a team was knocked out of the UEFA Champions League during the qualifying rounds, they would get a second chance to play in the Europa League. This gave more teams a chance to compete in European football.

Key Dates for the Tournament

Here are the important dates when the matches and draws happened for the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League:

Sometimes, games in the early rounds (like qualifying and play-offs) and the knockout rounds were played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the usual Thursdays. This happened if there were other games scheduled at the same time.

Group Stage Overview

The draw for the group stage happened on August 31, 2018, in Monaco. Forty-eight teams were put into twelve groups, with four teams in each group. Teams from the same country could not be in the same group. For the draw, teams were ranked into four different "pots" based on their past performance in UEFA competitions.

In the group stage, each team played against every other team in their group twice: once at home and once away. This is called a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group moved on to the next part of the tournament, called the Round of 32. They were also joined by eight teams that finished third in their groups in the Champions League group stage. The group stage matches were played on these dates: September 20, October 4, October 25, November 8, November 29, and December 13, 2018.

A total of 48 teams played in the group stage. Some teams entered directly, while others qualified by winning their play-off matches. Some teams also joined after being knocked out of the Champions League play-off round or third qualifying round.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LEV	ZUR	AKL	LUD
1	Bayer Leverkusen	6	4	1	1	16	9	+7	13	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–0	4–2	1–1
2	Zürich	6	3	1	2	7	6	+1	10			3–2	—	1–2	1–0
3	AEK Larnaca	6	1	2	3	6	12	−6	5			1–5	0–1	—	1–1
4	Ludogorets Razgrad	6	0	4	2	5	7	−2	4			2–3	1–1	0–0	—

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SAL	CEL	RBL	ROS
1	Red Bull Salzburg	6	6	0	0	17	6	+11	18	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–1	1–0	3–0
2	Celtic	6	3	0	3	6	8	−2	9			1–2	—	2–1	1–0
3	RB Leipzig	6	2	1	3	9	8	+1	7			2–3	2–0	—	1–1
4	Rosenborg	6	0	1	5	4	14	−10	1			2–5	0–1	1–3	—

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ZEN	SLP	BOR	KOB
1	Zenit Saint Petersburg	6	3	2	1	6	5	+1	11	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–0	2–1	1–0
2	Slavia Prague	6	3	1	2	4	3	+1	10			2–0	—	1–0	0–0
3	Bordeaux	6	2	1	3	6	6	0	7			1–1	2–0	—	1–2
4	Copenhagen	6	1	2	3	3	5	−2	5			1–1	0–1	0–1	—

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		DZG	FEN	SPT	AND
1	Dinamo Zagreb	6	4	2	0	11	3	+8	14	Advance to knockout phase		—	4–1	3–1	0–0
2	Fenerbahçe	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8			0–0	—	2–0	2–0
3	Spartak Trnava	6	2	1	3	4	7	−3	7			1–2	1–0	—	1–0
4	Anderlecht	6	0	3	3	2	7	−5	3			0–2	2–2	0–0	—

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ARS	SPO	VOR	QRB
1	Arsenal	6	5	1	0	12	2	+10	16	Advance to knockout phase		—	0–0	4–2	1-0
2	Sporting CP	6	4	1	1	13	3	+10	13			0–1	—	3-0	2–0
3	Vorskla Poltava	6	1	0	5	4	13	−9	3			0–3	1–2	—	0–1
4	Qarabağ	6	1	0	5	2	13	−11	3			0–3	1–6	0–1	—

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BET	OLY	MIL	DUD
1	Real Betis	6	3	3	0	7	2	+5	12	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–0	1–1	3–0
2	Olympiacos	6	3	1	2	11	6	+5	10			0–0	—	3–1	5–1
3	Milan	6	3	1	2	12	9	+3	10			1–2	3–1	—	5–2
4	F91 Dudelange	6	0	1	5	3	16	−13	1			0–0	0–2	0–1	—

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		VIL	RW	RAN	SPM
1	Villarreal	6	2	4	0	12	5	+7	10	Advance to knockout phase		—	5–0	2–2	2–0
2	Rapid Wien	6	3	1	2	6	9	−3	10			0–0	—	1–0	2–0
3	Rangers	6	1	3	2	8	8	0	6			0–0	3–1	—	0–0
4	Spartak Moscow	6	1	2	3	8	12	−4	5			3–3	1–2	4–3	—

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		FRA	LAZ	APL	MAR
1	Eintracht Frankfurt	6	6	0	0	17	5	+12	18	Advance to knockout phase		—	4–1	2–0	4–0
2	Lazio	6	3	0	3	9	11	−2	9			1–2	—	2–1	2–1
3	Apollon Limassol	6	2	1	3	10	10	0	7			2–3	2–0	—	2–2
4	Marseille	6	0	1	5	6	16	−10	1			1–2	1–3	1–3	—

Group I

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GNK	MAL	BES	SRP
1	Genk	6	3	2	1	14	8	+6	11	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–0	1–1	4–0
2	Malmö FF	6	2	3	1	7	6	+1	9			2–2	—	2–0	1–1
3	Beşiktaş	6	2	1	3	9	11	−2	7			2–4	0–1	—	3–1
4	Sarpsborg 08	6	1	2	3	8	13	−5	5			3–1	1–1	2–3	—

Group J

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SEV	KRA	STL	AKH
1	Sevilla	6	4	0	2	18	6	+12	12	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–0	5–1	6–0
2	Krasnodar	6	4	0	2	8	8	0	12			2–1	—	2–1	2–1
3	Standard Liège	6	3	1	2	7	9	−2	10			1–0	2–1	—	2–1
4	Akhisarspor	6	0	1	5	4	14	−10	1			2–3	0–1	0–0	—

Group K

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		DKV	REN	AST	JAB
1	Dynamo Kyiv	6	3	2	1	10	7	+3	11	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–1	2–2	0–1
2	Rennes	6	3	0	3	7	8	−1	9			1–2	—	2–0	2–1
3	Astana	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8			0–1	2–0	—	2–1
4	Jablonec	6	1	2	3	6	8	−2	5			2–2	0–1	1–1	—

Group L

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CHL	BATE	VID	PAOK
1	Chelsea	6	5	1	0	12	3	+9	16	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–1	1–0	4–0
2	BATE Borisov	6	3	0	3	9	9	0	9			0–1	—	2–0	1–4
3	MOL Vidi	6	2	1	3	5	7	−2	7			2–2	0–2	—	1–0
4	PAOK	6	1	0	5	5	12	−7	3			0–1	1–3	0–2	—

Knockout Stage: Who Moves On?

In the knockout stage, teams played against each other in two matches, one at each team's home stadium. The team that scored more goals over both matches moved on. This is called a two-legged tie. The only exception was the final, which was just one match.

Tournament Bracket

Round of 32 Matches

The draw for the Round of 32 happened on December 17, 2018. The first games were played on February 12 and 14, and the second games were played on February 20 and 21, 2019.

Round of 16 Matches

The draw for the Round of 16 was held on February 22, 2019. The first matches were on March 7, and the second matches were on March 14, 2019.

Quarter-finals Matches

The draw for the quarter-finals took place on March 15, 2019. The first games were played on April 11, and the second games were on April 18, 2019.

Semi-finals Matches

The draw for the semi-finals was also held on March 15, 2019, right after the quarter-final draw. The first matches were on May 2, and the second matches were on May 9, 2019.

The Grand Final

The big final match was played on May 29, 2019, at the Olympic Stadium in Baku. Before the final, an extra draw was held to decide which team would be considered the "home" team for administrative reasons.

29 May 2019 (2019-05-29) 21:00 CEST	Chelsea	4–1	Arsenal	Olympic Stadium, Baku Attendance: 51,370 Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)
	Giroud  49' Pedro  60' Hazard  65' (pen.), 72'	report	Iwobi  69'

See also

In Spanish: Liga Europa de la UEFA 2018-19 para niños